Rose chuckled. Janna looked at her, she was lying on her stomach on the bed reading a thin book. Janna looked down again at her notes from Leo, he had some interesting ideas. If I combine this spell with... Rose snorted, louder this time. Janna tried to ignore her. Now how did that go again? Concentrate on your subject and picture a line connecting both of you. Rose guffawed, Janna sighed and turned to her friend.

"What is so funny?" she asked.

Rose wiped the tears from her eyes, "Sorry, I'll be quiet."

"What are you reading?"

"It's a Horrible. They were selling them in the market for two coopers."

"What's a Horrible?" Janna asked puzzled. She stood up and walked across the room to Rose.

"It's an adventure book." she marked her place and held it out. "Look."

Janna took it and looked it over carefully. The paper was thin and yellow, the cover was thicker and made of cardboard, the spine was bound with glue. She turned it over to loo at the cover again, The title was surrounded by elaborate curlicues and filled the cover: "The Quest for the Silver Chalice." smaller type below that read, "Will Dog Rose Thorn and Janet escape the Pirate King? Will they find the Silver Chalice in time?" at the very bottom, in even smaller type, and outside the border, was written "No. 11 of a series." Janna opened it. On the first page was a woodcut of a woman and a – Lion? Tiger? – it seemed to be a bit of both, facing a man holding a sword. The woman had her own sword out and the lion thing was snarling at the man with one paw raised threateningly.

"Why do they call it a Horrible?" She asked, handing it back to Rose.

"Because it is. Let me read you some." She opened the book.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.